Report: Titans release Lavelle Hawkins

The Titans added a rookie receiver early in the draft when they selected Justin Hunter and now they’ve released a veteran wideout a few days later.

Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean reports that the Titans have informed Lavelle Hawkins that they will release him. Hawkins spent five years with the team drafted him in the fourth round of the 2008 draft.

Hawkins had 47 catches during the 2011 season, but only 24 across his other four years in Tennessee and caught just five passes in seven games last season. With Hunter and Kendall Wright joining the team in the last two years and Hawkins scheduled to make $1.7 million in 2013, it’s not a great shock to see the Titans chose to move in a different direction.

They may not be done pruning the depth chart at receiver. Nate Washington has a salary of $4.2 million for the 2013 season and $4.8 million in 2014, quite a sum for a player who is behind Wright, Hunter and Kenny Britt in the pecking order at receiver. The Titans have said they have no plans to trade Washington or otherwise excise him from the roster, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that changed at some point this offseason.